An RF phase offset detection system, which includes a first RF phase detector and a second RF phase detector, and measures a first phase offset between a first RF signal and a second RF signal, is disclosed. Each of the first RF signal and the second RF signal has a common RF frequency. The first RF phase detector detects and filters the first RF signal and the second RF signal to provide a first detection signal. The second RF phase detector receives and phase-shifts the second RF signal to provide a phase-shifted RF signal. The second RF phase detector further detects and filters the first RF signal and the phase-shifted RF signal to provide a second detection signal, such that a combination of the first detection signal and the second detection signal is representative of the first phase offset.

The present description concerns a comparator (1) of a first voltage (V+) and of a second voltage (V−), comprising first (100) and second (102) branches each comprising a same succession of alternated first (106) and second (108) gates in series between a node (104) and an output (1002; 1022) of the branch (100; 102), wherein: each branch starts with a first gate (106), each gate (106; 108) has a second node (114) receiving a bias voltage, the second node (114) of each first gate (106) of the first branch (100) and of each second gate (108) of the second branch (102) receives the first voltage (V+), the second node of the other gates receiving the second voltage (V−), and an order of arrival of the edges on the outputs (1002; 1022) of the branches determines a result of a comparison.

Some embodiments include methods and systems for wafer biasing in a plasma chamber. A method, for example, may include: generating a first high voltage by a first pulsed voltage source using DC voltages and coupling the first high voltage to a wafer in the plasma chamber via at least one direct connection, the at least one direct connection enabling ion energy control in the plasma chamber; generating one or more of low and medium voltages by a second pulsed voltage source; coupling, capacitively, the one or more of low and medium voltages to the wafer; and pulsing the first high voltage and the one or more of low and medium voltages to achieve a configurable ion energy distribution in the wafer.

Provided is a selectable delay buffer for tuning a delay path in a circuit. The selectable delay buffer comprises a first delay segment configured to pass an input signal to an output terminal within a first range of time delays, a second delay segment configured to pass the input signal to the output terminal within a second range of time delays that is different from the first range, and a segment selection switch configured to selectively couple the delay segments to the output terminal based on received selection information that indicates which delay segment to couple to the output terminal.

Provided is a selectable delay buffer for tuning a delay path in a circuit. The selectable delay buffer comprises a first delay segment configured to pass an input signal to an output terminal within a first range of time delays, a second delay segment configured to pass the input signal to the output terminal within a second range of time delays that is different from the first range, and a segment selection switch configured to selectively couple the delay segments to the output terminal based on received selection information that indicates which delay segment to couple to the output terminal.

A clock multiplexer device includes first and second control circuitries and an output circuitry. The first control circuitry generates a first enable signal and a first signal according to a first clock signal and a first selection signal, and determines whether to output the first signal to be a first output clock signal according to a second selection signal and a second enable signal. The first and the second selection signals have opposite logic values. The second control circuitry generates the second enable signal and a second signal according to a second clock signal and the second selection signal, and determines whether to output the second signal to be a second output clock signal according to the first selection signal and the first enable signal. The output circuitry outputs one of the first output clock signal and the second output clock signal to be a final clock signal.

With respect to a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit that receives a first reference clock and generates an output clock, the PLL circuit includes a delay circuit that delays the first reference clock to generate a second reference clock, a feedback circuit that generates a control signal based on a phase difference between the second reference clock and a feedback clock, an oscillator that oscillates at a frequency determined based on the control signal to generate the output clock, and a divider that divides the output clock in the on state. The PLL circuit switches between a first mode and a second mode, the feedback clock in the first mode is a signal obtained by retiming an output of the divider with the output clock, and the feedback clock in the second mode is a signal obtained by retiming the first reference clock with the output clock.

A duty cycle correction circuit includes a first duty cycle detecting circuit configured to detect a duty cycle of a clock signal with a first resolution; a reference clock generating circuit configured to generate a reference clock signal by adjusting a phase of the clock signal; a second duty cycle detecting circuit configured to detect a duty cycle of the clock signal with a second resolution according to the reference clock signal and the clock signal, the second resolution being finer than the first resolution; a first duty cycle adjusting circuit configured to adjust the duty cycle of the clock signal according to one or more first control signals output from the first duty cycle detecting circuit; and a second duty cycle adjusting circuit configured to adjust the duty cycle of the clock signal according to one or more second control signals output from the second duty cycle detecting circuit.

A duty cycle correction circuit includes a first duty cycle detecting circuit configured to detect a duty cycle of a clock signal with a first resolution; a reference clock generating circuit configured to generate a reference clock signal by adjusting a phase of the clock signal; a second duty cycle detecting circuit configured to detect a duty cycle of the clock signal with a second resolution according to the reference clock signal and the clock signal, the second resolution being finer than the first resolution; a first duty cycle adjusting circuit configured to adjust the duty cycle of the clock signal according to one or more first control signals output from the first duty cycle detecting circuit; and a second duty cycle adjusting circuit configured to adjust the duty cycle of the clock signal according to one or more second control signals output from the second duty cycle detecting circuit.

An apparatus is provided which comprises: a controller to allocate, to a component, a resource budget selected from a plurality of quantization levels; and a circuitry to adaptively update the plurality of quantization levels.